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Family Advocacy Day stresses the importance of children’s hospitals

No one can tell the stories of children's hospitals better than the individuals most touched by their presence – pediatric patients and their families.

Every year, the National Association of Children's Hospitals hosts two advocacy days in Washington, D.C. Advocacy Day programs feature educational briefings, remarks from lawmakers and Washington insiders, and opportunities to network.

Speak Now for Kids Advocacy Day, June 24-25, 2014

Noah Baral, age 4, from Stevens Point, Wis., and his family, will join many other patients and families from children's hospitals across the country to speak with members of Congress during the Children's Hospital Association's Speak Now for Kids Advocacy Day, June 24-25, 2014.

Noah's story

When Noah was born he was blue and was immediately taken to the NICU at the hospital where he was born. Noah's organs were shutting down because of heart failure. The Baral family was referred to Children's Hospital of Wisconsin where pediatric specialists were much better equipped to help Noah.

The doctors at Children’s Hospital determined Noah had Shone’s Complex - a congenital heart defect that included severe mitral value regurgitation, pulmonary hypertension and aortic stenosis. Noah was in heart failure when he arrived at Children’s Hospital and in critical condition. Despite surgery to replace Noah’s mitral valve with a mechanical one, he was listed for a heart transplant when he was only 2 months old.

After waiting 80 days, Noah received a new heart. Just twelve days later, he went home. Since then, Noah has not looked back and is growing by leaps and bounds! Thanks to the amazing staff at Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin and the gift of life from a donor family, Noah gets to experience life. The Baral family works together to raise awareness of pediatric organ donation in coordination with the Wisconsin Donor Network.